Topic: Xbox 360 Outsells Wii, DS in July NPDs

[NWR_Neal]

Super Mario Galaxy 2, LEGO Harry Potter, Dragon Quest IX, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii all make appearances in the top 10 for the July NPDs.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/23863

The July 2010 NPDs are in, and the biggest shock is that the Xbox 360 was the highest-selling system, besting the second-ranked Nintendo DS by nearly 50,000 units.

The Wii was actually closer to the PlayStation 3's sales, coming in third roughly 40,000 units ahead of Sony's system. However, the console remains slightly above its July 2009 sales, which came during a month in which Wii Sports Resort sold more than 500,000 units. Check out the full hardware sales below.

1. Xbox 360 443,500
2. Nintendo DS 398,400
3. Wii 253,900
4. PlayStation 3 214,500
5. PSP 84,000

Overall game industry sales are more or less the same as they were a year ago, with hardware sales being slightly up and software sales being slightly down.

Speaking of software, Wii and DS games still had a large presence, though not at the very top. Super Mario Galaxy 2 came in fourth, with sales of almost 200,000 units. According to the NPD Group the game has sold more than 1.3 million units since its release in May.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 on DS and Wii came in at fifth and seventh, selling 142,000 and 133,000 units respectively. "LEGO Harry Potter was the second best-selling game for the month with 401,000 units across all platforms," said NPD Industry Analyst Anita Frazier. "It bested its intro month sales in June of 355K, although it must be noted it released late in June. In just over a month at retail, it has already sold enough to put it just outside of the top 20 games year-to-date."

Dragon Quest IX, Nintendo's big July release, was in the eighth slot, with more than 132,000 units sold. Lastly, New Super Mario Bros. Wii remained in the top 10 at number nine, selling more than 128,000 units. See below for the full list.

1.    NCAA Football 11 (360, Electronic Arts) 368,000
2.    NCAA Football 11 (PS3, Electronic Arts) 298,800
3.    Crackdown 2 (360, Microsoft) 208,800
4.    Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, Nintendo) 193,000
5.    LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (DS, Warner Bros) 141,700
6.    Red Dead Redemption (360, Take 2)
7.    LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii, Warner Bros) 133,000
8.    Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies (DS, Nintendo) 132,000
9.    New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, Nintendo) 128,000
10.    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, Activision)

[NWR_Lindy]

The Xbox 360 redesign is a much bigger deal than I thought.  I know two people (Jonny being one of them) that have already bought the slim version to replace their old 360, and another person that never owned a 360 (mainly a PC gamer) but finally picked up the slim.

[Caterkiller]

Oh lawd! Well I suppose it was bound to happen sometime. But man it's not just a few thousand more thats about a couple hundred thousand more.

[Peachylala]

The Xbox 360 redesign is a much bigger deal than I thought.  I know two people (Jonny being one of them) that have already bought the slim version to replace their old 360, and another person that never owned a 360 (mainly a PC gamer) but finally picked up the slim.

Mostly because this time Microsoft designed it inside out instead of the other way around.

[Kytim89]

I have a strong feeling that the wii 2 reveal/release is just around the corner. The wii slipping from the numeber one spot after being at the top seems like it is going to happen a lot more in the coming months.

[Jonnyboy117]

Yay, I just sold my old 360 for $100 to offset my slim!

[Guitar Smasher]

Why would it continue to happen?  If 360's sales are a result of the redesign, then the market should return to the prior equilibrium rather quickly.  The Wii actually matched sales for last summer, so it's not like it's losing momentum.

[NWR_Neal]

Also, DS sales are down year-over-year. 3DS in fall, ftw! (I hope :X)

[TJ Spyke]

I have a strong feeling that the wii 2 reveal/release is just around the corner. The wii slipping from the numeber one spot after being at the top seems like it is going to happen a lot more in the coming months.

Why? This is not the first time this has happened. The PS3 outsold the Wii after it got a $100 pricecut, the Xbox 360 outsold the Wii when Halo 3 came out, etc. This happens when something major on the other consoles happens. The shock to me is that it managed to even outsell the DS, maybe some people decided to hold off until the 3DS comes out? They still have another six months to wait though.

I want the new 360, especially since my current one needs to be fixed (the damn disc drive doesn't work, so I can only play downloaded games) and I can't trade it in since it was manufactured in June 2008 (so GameStop won't even let me trade it in).

[NWR_Lindy]

And that's exactly what's happening, TJ.  People are literally buying the new 360 to replace their old one with the crappy hardware.  Another big deal with the slim version is the fact that it has built-in WiFi.  Previously you had to do some wacky bridging to get it to work with a Wi-Fi network, or buy the $90 360 Wi-Fi Adapter, a.k.a. Biggest Rip-Off Ever.

[Kytim89]

I would even buy the 36o slim and that says a lot considering that I do not like the 360.

[ControlerFleX]

I believe the number reflect a mix of sorts........

Most of the 360 numbers reflect those that knew about E3 and figured that they'll buy this machine before their old one disappoints them or that NEW factor that isn't bound by transfer issues(I'm looking at you Black Wii)

The DS has gots to be reaching it's saturation point, though there's reasons to buy a DS for every occasion known to man, again those of us who are in the know will hold off or even tell others to wait till the 3DS is released. Plus the word about that thin is Waaaay out there. My 47 year old Commanding Officer asked me if I knew about Nintendos new "3D" machine.

The Wii.... well it is an unpredictable machine but slow and steady is still winning the course, just like Guitar Smasher pointed out no MAJOR change from last summer, but this fall will tell a different story I'm sure, a price drop in the DS skews in the US will be just the thing before the 3DS drops. As far as the next home console from Nintendo, don't hold your breath my friends, WiiParty will move units......... all the way till next Christmas.

[Ian Sane]

I know two people (Jonny being one of them) that have already bought the slim version to replace their old 360

Might as well get a jump on the inevitable RRoD.
 
It seems more like the other consoles just have spouts where they do better but the Wii doesn't seem to be selling worse.  Maybe just as time goes on more Wii owners are buying a second console.  But it doesn't seem like MS or Sony are stealing potential new customers from Nintendo, not enough to make the Wii doomed or anything.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

And that's exactly what's happening, TJ.  People are literally buying the new 360 to replace their old one with the crappy hardware.  Another big deal with the slim version is the fact that it has built-in WiFi.  Previously you had to do some wacky bridging to get it to work with a Wi-Fi network, or buy the $90 360 Wi-Fi Adapter, a.k.a. Biggest Rip-Off Ever.

This information doesn't exist, but I have to wonder what proportion of the slim Xbox 360s was bought by new punters and what proportion was bought by pre-existing consumers looking for a more reliable piece of hardware. Speaking of which, if it is true that this hardware revision has at last ended the Red Ring of Death problem for good, I might consider it - that's always been the factor that's stopped me from looking into the 360.

[Jonnyboy117]

The new system has an automatic shut-off feature if it detects that the circuit boards are overheating, so it's designed to prevent RRoD from ever happening. It also has the benefit of several iterations of internal circuit designs that are less vulnerable to the original RRoD cause.

[MegaByte]

They solved the RRoD problem by removing the red rings!

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Hm? That wasn't what I was hoping for. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that the original series of Xbox 360s (Core, Premium, Elite) suffered from poor placement of components. I heard the RRoD is caused by the solder on the motherboard melting as a result of being too close to overheating circuits, as well as a defective fan. I was hoping that the internal components would be repositioned in the slimline model and some of them replaced. This automatic shutdown may help, but such a function shouldn't be necessary unless the redesign hasn't actually sorted out the component placement catastrophe.

[TJ Spyke]

The last model of the Xbox 360 pretty much already eliminated RRoD, the slim model does even more to help.

[cubist]

How about eliminating RROD.  Period. 

[TJ Spyke]

No electronics device has a 0% defective rate, i'm sure Microsoft wants it to be as low as possible too so they can stop having to pay to fix them.

[Mop it up]

I am a bit surprised to see the XBox 360 maintain the sales spike it received last month, but thinking about it, the new system is quite an improvement over the other models. People who have a failing system probably scooped it up instead of bothering with a repair, and people weary of the system due to hardware issues and the expensive WiFi adapter probably can't resist anymore. I think this amount of sales could continue through the rest of the year, though it may not always take the top spot, as I expect Wii and DS to both sell truckloads over the holiday season.

[Kytim89]

The new system has an automatic shut-off feature if it detects that the circuit boards are overheating, so it's designed to prevent RRoD from ever happening. It also has the benefit of several iterations of internal circuit designs that are less vulnerable to the original RRoD cause.

How is the noise?

[Halbred]

I am seriously considering a Slim 360, although there aren't a lot of retail games I actually want that aren't available on the PS3. I'd be buying it mainly for Xbox Live games like Shadow Complex.

If only it were more reasonably priced, I jump on it.

[TJ Spyke]

Maybe you might be interested in the Arcade version coming later this year? The only real difference is that it has a 4GB HDD rather than 250GB.

[NWR_insanolord]

Maybe you might be interested in the Arcade version coming later this year? The only real difference is that it has a 4GB HDD rather than 250GB.

You can also plug in a USB drive up to 16 GB to supplement that, which should be more than enough for the kind of use you're describing. I think the new models also support standard hard drives, should you eventually need more storage.